STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RONALD DAVID BALLARD - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RONALD DAVID BALLARD

Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 7, 2026

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: M. Todd Ridley (on appeal), Assistant Public Defender - Appellate Division, Franklin, Tennessee, and Matthew Moore (at trial), Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ronald David Ballard.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; G. Kirby May, Assistant Attorney General; Jody S. Pickens, District Attorney General; and Eric V. Wood, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): CAMPBELL

The Defendant, Ronald David Ballard, was convicted in the Henderson County Circuit Court of fifteen counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court merged all counts and sentenced him as a Range III, persistent offender to twenty-eight years in confinement for count one. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions because the State failed to show he constructively possessed the firearm. Based upon the oral arguments, the record, and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the Defendant’s convictions but remand the case to the trial court for sentencing on counts two through fifteen and for correction of the judgments pursuant to State v. Berry, 503 S.W.3d 360, 364 (Tenn. 2015).

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